This photo from Iberdrola Renewables shows wind turbines on a corn and soybean farm in Trimont, Minn. The company will be building a similar commercial-scale wind energy farm in North Carolina. (Iberdrola Renewables LLC via AP)

(Newser)
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On a vast tract of old North Carolina farmland, crews are getting ready to build something the South has never seen: a commercial-scale wind energy farm. The $600 million project by Spanish developer Iberdrola Renewables will put 102 turbines on 22,000 acres near the coastal community of Elizabeth City, with plans to add about 50 more. Once up and running, it could generate about 204 megawatts—enough to power about 60,000 homes. It would be the first large onshore wind farm in a region with light, fluctuating winds that has long been a dead zone for wind power, and after a years-long regulatory process that once looked to have doomed the plan, an Iberdrola spokesman says construction is to begin in about a month.

Right now, there's not a spark of electricity generated from wind in nine states across the Southeast from Arkansas to Florida, according to data from the American Wind Energy Association, an industry trade group, but taller towers and bigger turbines are unlocking new potential in the South. Federal energy researchers have found stronger winds at higher elevations that can be tapped by new towers and bigger rotor blades. New federal maps of onshore wind flows at higher elevations than were previously available indicate that this new technology significantly increases the areas in which wind can thrive, especially in the Southeast.

To generate MASSIVE grid energy, construct a wind turbine in front of the podium on the floor of the Senate. Harry Reid alone could light up Nevada for centuries.

iq145

Jul 13, 2015 7:16 PM CDT

i wonder if they'll fly the Confederate Flag atop one of them :-)

nicknak

Jul 13, 2015 5:44 PM CDT

Geee. I wonder how many birds will be killed by all those whirling blades. But that doesn't matter, does it? As long as it is renewable energy. But that won't help the non-renewable birds swatted down from the air.